Using idioms, colloquialisms, & accents of our German ancestors...many having settled first in Pennsylvania and Maryland or into Ohio or Indiana directly from the old country.

Many of us grew up learning the pronunciation, inflections of the voice, and the phrases of speech from our parents, neighbors, and teachers. These same sayings and inflections were influenced from our daily life in these small communities. Our phraseology is distinct and familiar to many, but frequently recognizable as different in a mobile society. Others can determine our nativity based upon our speech. Today much of the terminology is fading. Remnants of our "specialness" lurks in the background as occasionally those colloquialisms and idioms break forth from our past while speaking.

After supper my sons had to "redd up" (clear away) the dishes from the table and "warsh" (wash) the dishes. [I was using "redd up" when I moved to Michigan abt. 1965, until my MI neighbor asked me what I said my sons were home doing. I still find myself reverting back to "warsh" at times. ASH]

My Grandma Lehmann would "warsh" the dishes and boil water so she can "rinsch" (rinse) the dishes, then put them in the "zink" (sink) to dry.

When all your work is done you can have a "pop" or "soda pop" from the "Frigidaire." (refrigerator)

I would go to the "grocery" to buy a "mango" (a green pepper). ["Mangoes" were sold at Eavey's Supermarket in Anderson, IN. An yet today (2008), one can get an wonderful roast beef sandwich with "mangoes" at Art's Pizza Palace on Broadway in Anderson, Indiana.]

My mother made chicken and "pot pie" (flat dumpling dropped in hot chicken broth with chunks of chicken) for "supper" (evening meal) after goin' and comin' from the grocery. [ASH still makes.]

Oh, so good was homemade potato soup with "rivels" or homemade beef soup with rivels. [My Michigan friends have never heard of rivels. ASH still makes.]

An egg would be added to left over mashed potatoes, mixed, and dropped into frying pan...potato-like pancakes. [ASH still makes.]

Grandmother Shields served homemade noodles with chicken for Sunday dinner. [ASH still makes homemade noodles.]

Other foods included Grandma Shields fried saurkraut, Rita (Lehmann) Shields' pork with sauerkraut & (dropped) dumplings, Grandma Shields boiled apple dumplings, and Grandma Lehmann's baked apple dumplings.

Umm, those "cracklins" at the SHIELDS farm in Piqua, OH as a kid were better than potato chips. (deep-fried chunks of cured pork skins resulting in puffed, light, crispy, tasty curls)

After milking the cows in the morning, my Shields grandparents would come in for breakfast which consisted of crushed Saltine crackers dropped into their coffee...coffee soup!

Favorite desserts included: Grandma Shields' rhubarb pie, Grandma Shields' sunshine cake (a yellow sponge cake), Grandma Shields' boiled apple dumplings, Rita (Lehmann) Shields' baked apple dumplings, Grandma Shields' pearl tapioca pudding.

We'd put pinneys (peonies) on family gravesites for Memorial Day.

My dad, Dale Shields, would talk about goin' skinny dippin' in the crick (creek) in Greenville, Ohio when he was young.

Let's "walk up the road a piece" and "traipse" through the "woods" on the way home.

My parents would tell my sisters and me to "skooch/skootch/scooch over" (sküch) [move a little] so we'd fit in that chair or seat.

You'd only have to move that book a "smidgen" (a little) to get the other book on the shelf.

If you don't behave, I will have to "tan your hide." (spank your bottom)

"That picture is hangin' cattywampus."

"I'm gonna' cold-cock him (knock him down) for hurting my brother!"

He'll get his "comeuppance." (punishment for bad actions)

She sure thinks she is a "highfalutin" person. (pretentious, fancy, pompous, thinks too highly of herself)

You're being "cantankerous." (mean spirited, disagreeable, ugly in temperment, testy, "crotchety," "ornery")

Look at that "doodad." (doohickey, thingamabob, thingamajig, whatchamacallit)

In my early years, we went to the "picture show" with my parents on Saturday night. (movie)

Put that in the "cubbyhole." (small compartment of a desk or shelf)

Exclamatory remarks might be:

"Well, for land's sake!"

"Mercy sakes."

"Sakes alive!"

"I'll be a monkey's uncle!"

"Land o' Goshen!"

"Heavens to Betsy!"

"Lorda mercy."

"For cryin' out loud!"

Cincinnati was "Cincinnata" and Piqua was "Pick way."